Social Media Outsourcing: A Wise Choice

They say that timing is everything, and often success comes from recognizing the right opportunity at the right time. This is especially true in the ever changing Internet landscape. A recent Industry Report released by Michael A. Stelzner, founder of SocialMediaExaminer.com, reveals some untapped potential that bodes well for those with Social Media Marketing skills. We’d highly recommend downloading and reading the full report from the website, but for now check out this quick video summary:

When we read the report, we were struck by the following statistic:

“Social media outsourcing underemployed: Only 14% of businesses are outsourcing any aspect of their social media marketing.”

This was fascinating because on the other hand, it’s clear that an increase in benefits is directly proportional to the amount of time spent on Social Media Marketing. Here are some of the benefits that were reported:

•    Helped close business
•    Generated exposure for business
•    Resulted in new business partnerships
•    Generated qualified leads
•    Reduced overall marketing expenses
•    Helped business rise in the search rankings
•    Increased traffic/subscribers/opt-in list

However, since the concept of Social Media outsourcing is still relatively new, and many marketers are still new to Social Media Marketing itself, the report predicts it may be another year before businesses embrace the idea of seeking outside assistance.

But with at least 67% of marketers planning to increase their use of blogs, Facebook, video/YouTube, Twitter and LinkedIn, the tide is definitely going to turn. How else will business owners juggle everything they need to do and still devote enough time to Social Media Marketing?

So what kinds of things will businesses need help with as they ramp up their Social Media activities?

Here are some of the important roles an outsourced Social Marketing Specialist can fill:

•    Social Media Coach (very important)
•    Social Media Community Manager (set up and optimize system)
•    Company Representative (manage customer relations)
•    Social Media Eyes & Ears for Your Clients (SM Monitoring)

Most importantly, businesses need a proper Social Media Strategy, and there will be amazing client opportunities coming available for Virtual Assistants who can perform the following tasks:

•    Create a clear and measurable social media strategy (#1 priority)
•    Research & identify the right social networks
•    Build social networking presence
•    Manage & optimize social networking presence
•    Measure results of social networking activities

So if you have Social Media Marketing skills like these, get ready to catch the next wave in this very popular and profitable niche! Keep your skills current and up to date, and you’ll be in the ideal position when more and more businesses quickly realize they need to outsource their Social Media activities! In our newly updated Social Marketing 2010 course, we provide cutting-edge training to equip Virtual Assistants to deliver the key services clients desperately need and will be asking for in the near future.

Social Media Goes Local in 2010!

If you enter AJ Bombers restaurant in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and slide into one of the booths, you’ll notice interesting graffiti written on the heavy varnished wood. As you look closer, you’ll find out that people have written Twitter user names all over the place.

Now why on earth would people be thinking about Twitter at a restaurant?

Well, believe it or not, Social Media is going local, and brick and mortar businesses are capitalizing on the power of Social Media to help generate more traffic to their business and to keep their current customers coming back.

Check out this fascinating Kitchen Table Talks video with Chris Brogan and Joe Sorge, owner of AJ Bombers and other restaurants in Milwaukee:

As Joe explains, “AJ Bombers was built by Twitter.”  Imagine business owners being able to monitor customers’ experiences from a distance, making adjustments and responding to complaints on the fly from their Twitter account.  Imagine loyal customers being offered daily specials through tweets from their favorite restaurant. That’s the power of Social Media.

However, according to a recent article in Social Media Examiner, “3 New Studies Show Value of Social Media and Businesses Slow Response,” only 47% of companies are experimenting with Social Media, and of those that do, many are failing to effectively build online community and provide a favorable platform for interaction and feedback.

This finding shows that there’s a definite need for Virtual Assistants with Social Media skills to fill that niche and educate businesses on best practices for using Social Media. For VAClassroom grads, the possibilities are endless, and brick and mortar businesses would surely benefit from your expertise in Social Media Marketing.

So survey the brick and mortar businesses around you and just imagine how a Twitter Account or a Facebook Fan Page could build their clientele and keep people coming in the door. The sky’s the limit with a little imagination and a passion for engaging people with the tools available in this exciting new Web 2.0 world!

Explaining Social Media To Your Family and Friends

For many of you that work on the Internet virtually from home, you probably get the question from family members: “What exactly do you do?” I remember when I first started working in the Internet industry just about 6 years ago, I received a lot of interesting comments and looks to say the least:)

I was recently at a family function and someone asked me about the types of training courses we teach at VAClassroom. I started sharing about our Social Marketing Training Program and quickly realized that what I was speaking “Greek” to this person. Twitter? Huh?

Anyways, since you are involved in Social Media to some extent or have an interest in adding it as a service in your business, I thought I should send you this video that will save you some grief with family and friends when they ask “What exactly do you do?”

This video is called “Social Media in Plain English” and it is one of the best and most practical explanations I have seen on this topic!

Enjoy the video!

Our Social Marketing Training Course started last week and we just completed our 2nd session on Social Media Strategy and Social Networking Set-up and Management. I will keep you posted on the next enrolment in January!

Lessons from Barack Obama’s Social Media Strategy

Well, the long US election campaign culminated last night with Barack Obama winning the Presidency of the United States.  This is now the time where streams of political analysts will weigh in on what the parties did right, the potential missteps the Republicans may have taken and so on and so forth. But politics aside, as a Social Media enthusiast myself, I have to stand back and applaud the Social Media Strategy that was brilliantly executed by the Obama campaign!

The social network gurus on his team implemented some innovative strategies, even going as far as creating their own Obama Social Network where people all over the US could connect, share Ideas and dialogue about the issues.

I read a great post today from an Aussie that summed up the social media brilliance displayed by Team Obama over the last few months. Take a read of this post titled: Lessons We Can Learn From Barack Obama’s Online Marketing Strategy. As you read this, reflect on your own Social Media efforts and take stock of how effective your current activities are – is there something to be learned from this Social Media President? I would love to hear your thoughts and feedback!

The timing of this post is great, especially as we get set to launch our new Social Marketing Specialist Training Program here at VAClassroom.com. Obama’s ability to successfully leverage Social Media will no doubt alert to action many of those businesses who may be dabbling with Social Media, but not employing any real concrete strategy.

The opportunities for Social Marketing Specialists will be plentiful in 2009!